PROJECT #1 - Made of Water

When does our self and our identity become irrelevant? Who we are is constructed of many different factors and many different cultural taboos and influences, shape both how we see ourselves and how others see us.

The North Pond Hermit of Maine, Christopher Knight, a man who lived for 20 years in the Maine woods undetected says: “With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant. In isolation, without the cultural bounds, only nature and the need for survival, constructing an identity for yourself becomes completely unnecessary.”

The Chinese artist, Zhang Huan says “He often chooses to be naked in his performances and asks others to be naked as well, because nudity strips us of our cultural shells and places us back into the natural order.”

When we are stripped down to the natural order, of only what is given to us, not constructed either culturally or physically by man, we are just beings, made of water and carbon and the simple task of survival is all that is sought after or thought about.

The image was taken in the Superstition Wilderness and printed with a 19th century gum bichromate. A natural process that does not require the use of silver. The digital overlay of the water molecules is an aesthetic test before sewing natural hemp fiber directly onto the physical prints.

Published on Feb 18, 2015
Pussy Riot's first song in English is dedicated to Eric Garner and the words he repeated eleven times before his death. This song is for Eric and for all those from Russia to America and around the globe who suffer from state terror - killed, choked, perished because of war and state sponsored violence of all kinds - for political prisoners and those on the streets fighting for change. We stand in solidarity.

Pussy Riot's Masha and Nadya are being buried alive in the Russian riot police uniforms that are worn during the violent clashes of police and the protesters fighting for change in Russia. A pack of "Russian Spring" brand cigarettes is on the ground at the beginning. "Russian Spring" is a term used by those who are in love with Russia's aggressive militant actions in Ukraine, and the cigarettes are a real thing.

"I Can't Breathe" was recorded in New York in December 2014 during the protests against police brutality together with Pussy Riot, Richard Hell, Nick Zinner, Andrew Wyatt, Shahzad Ismaily (The Ceramic Dog) and Russian bands Jack Wood and Scofferlane.

Eric Garner's last words (read by Richard Hell):Get away [garbled] for what? Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today. Why would you...? Everyone standing here will tell you I didn't do nothing. I did not sell nothing. Because everytime you see me, you want to harass me. You want to stop me [garbled] Selling cigarettes. I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone. please please, don't touch me. Do not touch me. [garbled] I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

Tehching Hsieh: One Year Performance 1980-1981

Somewhat in depth analysis by a curator and by the artist about the work.

Week #4
The Amazing Harrison's --

While this video is a document of one of their much smaller and self contained works, it beautifully illustrates their desire for a change in perception of how we see the land. They campaign for people to take the time to notice the details of a place and allow that thought process to create new ideas and new ways of living with the land on a grand scale.

Semiotics is meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols.

While I understand this is the history of art and this is the platform for which pop art and semiotics is talked about.

How much can we trust the history or care about the history when it is all coming from the same type of source?

Roland discusses and comes up with the hidden meanings behind social and cultural interactions but they come from the place of the white privileged city bound male. While I see his connections and can ponder them briefly I feel myself kind of throwing it out of my own developing methodologies and mythologies based on their narrow, sometimes outdated feeling, viewpoints. It's the equivalent of the art "good old boys club"